Commandant Michael
by Matt Magnet
Summary: The first of a 3-part Francis fic.........................................I hope you like it, and don't you dare forget to review!
1. Default Chapter

Commandant Michael Part 1

It was a regular Saturday at Marlin Academy. Francis, his roommate Stanley, and their friend Ken were playing pool. The TV set blared. Cadets laughed loudly as they watched Jerry Springer. Someone had turned on a radio, and the sounds of Eminem poured into the room. After a hard week at the Academy, the students were ready to relax.

A burly jock and a friend of Francis, Horton, ran into the room. "Spangler's coming!"

The cadets leapt to attention as Commandant Spangler entered the room. Spangler was hated and feared by all who had the misfortune of attending the Academy. But then again, most one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged are hated and feared. Spangler had a disposition as ugly as his looks. 

"I have news, cadets," he announced. "Apparently, some of your parents have been complaining about me. Why they complain, I cannot imagine. Anyway, my boss has thought it would be best to bring in a new Commandant for a while. Commandant Michael will be in charge for a week, starting two days from now. My boss, Commandant Oberstein, will then decide whether to keep me as head of Marlin Academy, or turn the position over to Commandant Michael. As you were."

Spangler stomped out of the room. The cadets, with the exception of Francis, Horton, and their friends Finley and Joe resumed their prior activities. 

"Yes! Spangler's leaving!" Joe cried excitedly.

"Wait a second. This might not be such a good thing. This new guy could be even worse than Spangler! Michael could be the spawn of Satan! Or worse, he could be like my mother!" said Francis.

Finley sighed. "Do you always have to be so negative, Francis? Maybe this Michael guy will be totally awesome."

"But maybe he won't! That's all I'm trying to say." Francis picked up his pool cue, and shot the eight ball straight into the corner pocket. "Don't get your hopes about this guy."

The conversation was interrupted by the loud cheering taking place behind them. It seemed as if the entire Academy was screaming, "All right! Spangler's gone!" 

Francis shook his head unhappily. _Am I the only one here with a brain? Michael is probably going to be even meaner and more horrible than Spangler! But of course the parents won't know that, and they won't complain about him, and we'll be stuck with him forever! This seriously bites!_

Classes had been dismissed for the rest of the day. The teachers found that no matter how hard they tried; nothing would be learned today. The students were simply too excited over the prospect of getting rid of Spangler to pay attention to their studies. Not that any of them paid much attention to their studies normally, but it was the principal of the thing.

After a disgusting dinner and more TV, the cadets went to bed. Francis lay in his bed, his brain whirling about at 90 miles per hour. _Only one more day until Michael shows up. Hey, I've got an idea! When Michael shows up, I'll be so rebellious and out of control that he'll quit! I've made tons of people quit before, and I'm sure I can do it again! Whoever this guy is, I'm sure Spangler is better than him. Wait a minute. Why do I keep defending Spangler? Is there a possibility that I've grown to __respect__, maybe even __like__ Spangler?! Nah, of course not. I've just grown accustomed to the way things work around here, and I don't the monotony to change. No, of course I don't like Spangler._

But Francis was wrong. Deep, deep down in his heart, he did like Spangler. And although his head might not realize this yet, it would become clear to him soon, if his heart had any say in it. 

***

The next day, the entire Academy rushed around in a huge hurry. The students were trying their best to clean things up for Commandant Michael. Beds were made, floors slept, drawers cleared out. Finley, Francis's roommate, had his side of the room looking perfect. Francis's half however, looked as if a tornado had blown through it. And much to Finley's chagrin, Francis refused to clean up. 

Before the cadets knew it, it was time for bed. They all went to sleep with smiles on their faces, dreaming about the wonderful new Commandant. All of course, but Francis. Francis fell asleep frowning. 

***

The next morning, the cadets raced happily into the recreation room, where they would meet Michael. After all the Marlin students had gathered there, Spangler strutted in.

"Cadets," said Spangler, "Meet Commandant Michael."

A tall man strode into the room. He was very handsome and dashing, with curly dark brown hair and green eyes. He smiled at the cadets. "I'm so pleased to meet you all," he said.

Everyone but Francis smiled back. Francis flipped Michael the bird. Michael turned towards Francis as Spangler excited the room.

"I'm afraid that sort of behavior won't be permitted under my watch, cadet. Something shall have to be done about you," announced Michael.

Francis grinned evilly. "Bring it on!"

__

** **


	2. Commadant Michael Part 2

Commandant Michael Part 2

** **

"I can't believe you just did that, man!" Finley hissed to Francis. Giving the new Commandant the finger was definitely not the brightest idea Francis had had. In fact, it was down right stupid. Everyone had a clean slate with Michael, and now Francis was making them all look bad. 

Michael turned to face Francis. "Come with me, cadet. I'd like to have a word with you." 

Francis smiled and shrugged at his friends as he followed the Commandant down the hall to what used to be Spangler's office. When they entered, Francis was shocked. When it was Spangler's office, everything was spotless and white. No color, no friendly clutter, no knick-knacks. Just a dark, empty, impersonal room. But now the room looked completely different. The windows were open so that air and sunshine could stream in. Silly posters of animals decorated the walls. The desk was buried under piles of junk. Little knick-knacks were everywhere. The plain old falling apart couch had been replaced with a sky blue overstuffed couch. 2 large reclining easy chairs sat in front of the desk. The room had undergone a face-lift. It looked great.

Commandant Michael sat in his own easy chair behind the desk. He gestured to Francis, "Sit down, cadet."

Francis plopped himself down in the comfortable leather chair and hit the reclining lever. When the chair had reached its lowest reclining point, Francis's feet were in Michael's face. Michael chose to ignore this fact.

"Now cadet- what's your name, son?"

"Francis."

"Francis, do you know why your parents sent you here?" asked Michael.

"Because they're totally psychotic." Francis replied.

"I don't think that's the reason. I think that they sent you here because they believed that you have an attitude problem. And from I've seen; it looks pretty clear that you do. Commandant Spangler and I have different beliefs. He believes that punishment should include hard physical labor and humiliation. I however, believe that instead of doing physical work, you should be doing mental work." Michael smiled at Francis.

"What do you mean by mental work?" inquired Francis suspiciously.

"Well, I used to be a psychiatrist. What you and all the other students here need is some good old fashioned therapy!" 

"Therapy?!" Francis yanked his chair into the upright position. "I'm not crazy, and neither is anyone else at this academy!"

Commandant Michael gave him a long, hard look. "Seeing a therapist does not make one 'crazy', cadet. It simply means you have some issues. I myself was in therapy for quite a number of years," Michael's face suddenly turned dark. "They sure thought I was crazy. Oh, how they laughed and taunted me! But I showed them. I showed them all!"

Michael chuckled maliciously. Francis stared at him. _Whoa,_ Francis thought to himself. _This guy is totally psycho! What a freak. How am I supposed to stand this? Therapy? Oh man, this dude is really full of it. Spangler would never put me in therapy. And what's up with that weird look on his face? He keeps muttering things about "getting even". I wonder what he's thinking. He's been laughing and talking to himself for the past 10 minutes. _

__Finally, Commandant Michael stopped his little dissertation. He turned and looked shocked to see Francis staring at him. It was if Michael had completely forgotten that Francis was there. He cleared his throat loudly and sat back down in his seat, so that he was facing Francis head on.

"What are you thinking, Francis?"

"I'm thinking that I'd really like to get out of here." Francis turned his bored expression towards the ceiling, refusing to meet Michael's eye.

"I mean what are you_ really_ thinking, cadet? What are your innermost thoughts? Your feelings? Your dreams?" Michael leaned closer to Francis.

Francis rolled his eyes. "I don't have any dreams, sir. They were all crushed when I first arrived here at Marlin Academy."

Michael looked outraged. "That's awful! Don't ever let them take away your dreams, cadet! Never, ever let them take away your dreams! Just like they killed mine. I dreamed of being a professional ping-pong player. And I was good, too! But then one day my father said to me, 'Son, you're the worst ping-pong player I've ever seen in my entire life. Stop fooling around with this ping-pong crap and do something useful with your life. Go into the army!' Damn you, Dad! I was good! I wanted to be a ping-pong player! Why couldn't you have just been happy for me?! Why did you always have to be so mean? I trusted you, Dad, and all you ever did was try to kill my spirit! Well you can't kill me, Dad! My spirit isn't dead!" 

At this point, Francis left the room, shaking his head. As he shut the door behind him, he heard the Commandant rambling away to himself loudly. "I've gotta get rid of this guy."


	3. Commadant Michael Part 3

Commandant Michael Part 3

Commandant Michael Part 3

** **

"Look, I'm telling you guys, something is seriously wrong with Commandant Michael," Francis explained to Finley, Joe, and Horton. "He thinks I need therapy. And he while he was talking to me, he started rambling on about this crazy stuff from his childhood. I think he's dangerous!"

"Francis, we've had enough of your stories. You always either exaggerate, or make something up completely. Can't you just tell the truth?" asked Joe.

"I'm not making this up! I swear!" said Francis.

"Whatever." Horton shrugged, and the three boys walked away.

"No, really! I'm telling the truth this time!" Francis shouted after them.

"Ten-hut!" a voice cried out. The cadets stood up to attention. Commandant Michael entered the room.

"Good morning cadets!" boomed Michael.

"Good morning sir!" shouted the cadets.

"I have some news for you. I have decided to take away your free activities time. Instead, you will spend your free time doing group therapy! No more hiding behind those tough military facades, you can let your true self shine through! I hope you're all as excited about this as I am. As you were." Michael said. He left the room.

"He's taking away all our free time?!" Finley was appalled. Loud cries of indignation came from all over the room. The students at the Academy cherished the small amount of free time allotted to them. Free activities time was the only time the cadets had to talk, watch TV, play pool, listen to music, etc. 

"Group therapy?" said a shocked Horton. "Francis, you're right. Michael is totally psycho! We've gotta get rid of him before the therapy starts!"

"I agree," said Joe and Finley.

"Didn't I tell you he was crazy? Oh well, there's no time to talk about that now. We've got to get Michael out of here, and get Spangler back. If only there was some way to prove that he's crazy…hey, I've got it!" Francis said.

"What?" asked Finley.

"Tonight, after everyone else is asleep, we'll sneak into his office and search it. There's got to be some incriminating evidence in there." Francis smiled, happy that he was able to put together a plan so quickly. "But for now, we need to take our mind of him, so lets watch some TV."

Francis and his friends sat down and turned the television set on. "Hey, America's Most Wanted is on. Lets watch that," Joe suggested.

"Okay. I can barely hear. I'll turn it up." Finley adjusted the sound so that it blared into the room. A new story was just coming on. The cadets leaned in to pay close attention. They loved watching the show.

"And now, we have a very interesting new story. A few weeks ago, a man was driving to Alabama, on his way to a military academy called Marlin Academy. The man, James Michael was brutally attacked."

"James Michael on his way to Marlin Academy! That must have been Commandant Michael!" shouted Francis.

"But if he was badly injured, then who's the guy claiming to be Michael?" Finley asked.

"I don't know. Lets watch." Francis turned the volume up even higher.

"The man who attacked Michael is named Matthew Kautz. Kautz had escaped from the McCoy Mental Institution a year ago, and has been on the run ever since. After attacking Michael, Kautz took Michael's clothes and identification, and drove away in Michael's car.

"The next day, Michael was found. He was dehydrated and starving. The woman who found him, an elderly lady named Mrs. Colbert, stated that Michael had been lying by the side of the road, stripped of everything but his underwear. Mrs. Colbert noticed that he was badly bruised and bleeding, his left arm broken, and 4 of his ribs were cracked. Mrs. Colbert helped Michael inside and called 911. 

"Michael gave the police a description of his assailant. A few days later, the police figured out that the attacker was indeed the escaped Kautz. 

"We need your help in finding Kautz. If you have any information about Matthew Kautz, please call our hotline immediately. Here is a picture of Kautz."

The TV screen was filled with a picture of an angry looking man. "Omigod!" yelled Francis. "That's the Commandant!"

Francis quickly grabbed the telephone and called the hotline number. A woman picked up. "America's Most Wanted, how can I help you?"

"I have information about Matthew Kautz! He's at Marlin Academy! He's trying to pass himself off as James Michael. I was just watching the show, and I saw the picture that was shown, and it's him! The man who claims to be Commandant Michael is really Matthew Kautz!" Francis shouted excited into the phone.

"Thank you very much for that information. I've already sent several policemen over to Marlin Academy to arrest Kautz. Congratulations, you just caught someone from the Top 10 Most Wanted List!"

Francis hung up the phone in a daze just as a team of policemen burst into the room. The policemen rushed into the Commandant's office. The cadets heard loud shouting.

"It's him all right. Well, well, well, Kautz, you sure did a good job of hiding yourself. You have the right to remain silent, everything you say can and will be used against you." A policeman cuffed Kautz and led him out to the squad car.

"You can't break my spirit! Never let them crush your dreams, cadet!" screamed Kautz. Another policeman shoved him roughly into the car, and they drove off into the night. 

For once, the Academy was silent. "Well," said Francis, "Didn't I tell you he was a psycho?"

***

A week later, everything was pretty much back to normal. Spangler had been rehired, and was running the Academy just as harshly as he had before.

When Spangler had arrived at Marlin Academy, an eager Francis had greeted him. "Sir, I never thought I'd say this, but you won't believe how happy I am to see you!"


End file.
